We’ve taken on a mostly Rhone Varietal Vineyard in Morgan Hill, which is a 6x6 VSP (North/South).
After shoot thinning to two canes/spur (6 in spur spacing) we went in and did a cluster count on every 10th vine through the vineyard. Assuming each cluster will mature to 1 lbs, we are seeing about 6 ton/acre projected yields, (+/- by varietal Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Gren. Blanc, Vigonier, Rousanne, Marsanne, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, Counoise, Alicante Bouschet (?) and a few rows which had slow irrigation coming in lower)
Any advantage or hazards in cluster thinning these varietals beyond dropping obvious green clusters? Given the current 2 week early veraison, I am not too worried about maturation, and would probably prefer to delay harvest for longer hang times all else being equal. I wouldn’t choose to drop Bordeaux from that weight, as I wouldn’t want to promote vegetals, but am not familiar with the Rhones in that regard.
Regards,
Sheldon
Sheldon,
It’s all a question of what you’re going for. I’d assume that as a small start-up, quality is absolutely more essential than quality.
I’m not sure how much I’d trust the 1 lb per cluster, but assuming your estimates are accurate (industry standard is to assume 25% deviation) I’d try to get the syrah and tempranillo below 3.5 tpa. I’d probably also thing the whites. Grenache, Mourvedre and Petite Sirah can produce quality carrying at higher levels, but its a question of what you’re going for. We tyipically target 4 tpa on our Grenache, PS and mourvedre, under 3 on our Viognier and Syrah for our P’tit Paysan programs. For reference, we would choose to drop Bordeaux from that weight. It’s tough to get good density and composition at 6 tpa. Even in Gilroy.
Our Gilroy Grenache typically comes in at 2.5-3 tpa and it’s great.
Ian
Sheldon,
Working backwards with yield and pruning style, I think a 1 lb. cluster weight is way too high. With bi-lateral VSP trellising for 5 spurs per lateral, that’s 10 spurs, 2 shoots per spur, 2 clusters per shoot. That’s a theoretical 40 clusters per vine. In reality, its probably more like 35. My Petite Sirah is usually the highest yielding of my Rhones with around 10 lbs./vine in a big year, so maybe .3 pounds per cluster is the ripe weight. I would estimate the Syrah clusters weigh less and Mourvedre, Grenache w/o trimming weigh more. Viognier much less. So unless you have gigantic clusters and berry size, I think your yield may be less than you think. My Syrah is usually around 2 tons per acre, Grenache 3-3.5.